HEBRON (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces demolished three housing structures, on Tuesday, in the Masafer Yatta area in the southern occupied West Bank district of Hebron.

Locals said that Israeli bulldozers entered the area and demolished three housing structures, under the pretext of being built without the difficult-to-obtain Israeli permit.

Sources confirmed that one of the demolished housing structures belonged to Jibril Ahmad Ismail, who lived there along with five family members, while the second belonged to Yasser Khalil Younis, who lived there along with four family members and the third belonged to Muhammad Ali Muhammad Abu Aram, who lived there with 12 family members.

Sources said that even though the demolition was carried out under the pretext of not obtaining an Israeli permit, locals claimed it was carried out to force out its residents from Palestinian lands.

The South Hebron Hills, known locally as Masafer Yatta, lie almost entirely in Area C, the 62 percent of the West Bank under full Israeli civil and security control since the 1993 Oslo Accords.

Masafer Yatta residents were expelled at the time of the establishment of a firing zone in the 1970s and were eventually allowed back following a long court battle, but are under the constant threat of being expelled or seeing their homes demolished.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the occupied Palestinian territory issued a report that the month of July recorded the highest number of Palestinian structures Israel has demolished or seized (54), and of Palestinian civilians displaced (97) in the occupied territories, since January 2017.